Angels bullpen could include more specialists

TEMPE, Ariz. - The Angels' pitching staff "will have a more situational look in the bullpen" when the regular season begins.

Manager Mike Scioscia didn't elaborate from there Monday, but it's not hard to figure out what he means.

There are 15 pitchers in camp and 12 will start the season on the active roster. Two, Ryan Madson and Andrew Taylor, almost certainly will begin the season on the disabled list, Madson because of his surgically repaired right elbow and Taylor because of a torn labrum in his shoulder. Taylor figures to start the season in the minors once he's healthy.

After Ernesto Frieri, Sean Burnett, Scott Downs, Kevin Jepsen, Garrett Richards and Jerome Williams, that leaves David Carpenter and Mitch Stetter on the bubble for the potential final spot in the bullpen. The Angels also could keep Carpenter and Stetter in the majors and send Richards, a potential sixth or seventh starter, to Triple-A Salt Lake to begin the season.

Scioscia wouldn't say which way he is leaning on Richards, only that "he's obviously been a bright spot in what has been a rough spring for many of our pitchers."

Richards has allowed three earned runs in 14 1/3 innings this spring, a 1.88 earned run average. The Angels had a 6.96 team ERA going into Monday's game against the Chicago White Sox.

Carpenter, a right-hander, saw his ERA rise to 5.23 after he allowed a two-run home run to minor leaguer Tyler Saladino in Monday's exhibition game.

Stetter was bothered by a bad back for most of camp and allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning when he debuted on March 17. But the left-hander hasn't allowed a run in his last three appearances, lowering his ERA to 6.75.

Stetter, a non-roster invitee to camp, would have to be added to the 40-man roster, but the Angels will have three open spots once Vernon Wells is removed. Even though there already are two left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster in Burnett and Downs, Stetter is a prototypical specialist, used to facing one or two left-handed batters in a typical outing.